Planting trees could save lives
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, December 28, 2007 (http://archive.columbiatribune.com/2007/dec/20071228comm003.asp)

Lately, there has been a lot of information showing a rising crime rate in this town. There have been cries for more police, more police presence and a general demand for increasing the budget of the Columbia Police Department. The issue has been taken up by the Columbia City Council, and more than one resident has appeared before the council to demand that "something be done."

Sure enough, the crime rate in Columbia has risen. Not just the number of crimes, which might be expected - more people mean more crimes - but the rate has increased. There’s more crime per capita and more break-ins, vandalism, misdemeanors, felonies and, yes, murders. The latter had been confined in the past to what is termed "domestic violence": crimes of passion, usually involving people who were related to one another or who knew one another. No more. It is now people killing other people for drugs, money or, as Johnny Cash sang, "just to watch him die."

Quite a few years ago, and over and over, I predicted that this area would become polluted, congested and crime-ridden. The basis of my predictions was the development of areas that should be left in their natural state, combined with a growing population advocated by The Bulldozer Academy and rising unemployment among the lower class.

There is little doubt that home builders, Realtors, developers and attorneys representing various real estate interests benefit from cutting down trees, manipulating the landscape and selling lots for cheaply built, expensive houses and strip malls. Several of these types have become quite wealthy and have somehow convinced the rest of us that their destruction of the natural landscape is in the public interest. "You can’t stop progress" is their motto, ignoring the fact that much of what they do is simply changing things from natural to artificial. That is not progress, and in many cases it is regress.

But, true to form and lacking in skills leading to gainful employment in other areas, a local developer organization has called for more of the same. There should be a recognition that more of the same will lead to more of the same.

Quite a few years ago, back in the early ’70s, the New York City Police Department became alarmed at the rising crime rate. Instead of hiring more police, the response was to plant trees. The crime rate plummeted. The captain of police in Harlem at the time, Tony Bouza, remarked that natural landscaping had a calming effect. When asked by an officer under his command, "Why are we doing this? What does this have to do with police work?" Capt. Bouza replied, "Because" trees "lead to civilized behavior."

Our own police chief has expressed doubt about whether adding more police would reduce the crime rate. Reasoning: Police do an excellent job of investigations leading to arrests, but they can do very little to prevent crime. Adding more officers walking or riding around crime-ridden neighborhoods would definitely enhance police presence, but the fact is that most felons, including murderers, don’t respond to more law enforcement personnel.

There are several answers. One, of course, is to provide meaningful work to those inclined to commit crimes. This has nothing to do with "coddling criminals" but has much to do with preventing crime. There are those in this community who want only to punish. It has been shown time and time again that punishment has almost no effect on deterrence.

Other solutions also are apparent. More focus on social services. More focus on various efforts to provide decent housing. More focus on lowering the costs of community, taxpayer-funded programs and projects. Instead there is a hue and cry for more police officers. It is not a lack of law enforcement that is causing our crime rate to skyrocket, nor is adding more officers a solution. We need to look at the causes and find solutions there. The cause of our rising crime rate is not the fault of the Columbia Police Department, and we shouldn’t be expecting more police to be a solution.

While I am an admitted and proud environmentalist and an advocate of keeping things as they are - or as they were - the benefits of natural landscapes and natural landscaping have been documented in several studies, the best known by the University of Illinois. Planting trees and keeping things green in this instance have more to do with crime prevention than environmentalism.

In short, it does no good and much harm for the natural landscape - our few remaining open and green spaces - to be decimated. The powers that be in our city need to familiarize themselves with the many studies showing that care for the environment results in lower crime rates. Instead, every piece-o’-crap development proposal is approved and lessens the amount of open and green space in this area.

Maybe we should be preserving what we have and planting more trees in areas that are now bleak and barren. Instead, there are those who want to rip out trees, burn, scrape off the natural vegetation and bulldoze the land to line their pockets at the expense of everyone else. Some pay a heavy toll. Some pay with their lives.